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Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Speaker’s son bares assassination plot
MANILA -- Businessman Joey de Venecia III asked the Makati police Tuesday to investigate an alleged plot to assassinate him over his bribery allegations in the National Broadband Network (NBN) project.
De Venecia named Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza and two other retired police generals as those behind the plot against him.
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He appeared at the Makati Police Headquarters Tuesday, two days before the Senate resumes its hearing on the $329 million broadband deal, where he reported in the police blotter the alleged death threats against him .
De Venecia said Mendoza and his assistant secretary, Reynaldo Berroya, and Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) director Ricardo Dapat had planned to kill him and his father, Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.
The younger de Venecia revealed the assassination plot was squealed to him by retired former Army commanding general Jaime Delos Santos, incidentally Berroya’s classmate in the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class ’69. Mendoza is a member of PMA Class ’70.
Under the supposed “kill” plan, the plotters would secretly slip out an inmate from the National Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa to carry out the “elimination” of the de Venecias’ in exchange for a huge amount of cash.
But the generals planning the assassination subsequently abandoned the idea of killing the House Speaker “as he is too high of a target” and that he is “very difficult to eliminate,” according to the younger de Venecia.
“Should anything happen to me or my father in the coming days, no other persons will be responsible for it than Generals Mendoza, Berroya, Dapat, and their henchmen,” de Venecia III said.
He added: “I can see that these threats are part of the payback that I get for deciding to come out and disclose what I know about this immoral and grossly disadvantageous deal."
Interviewed at the Makati Police Station, de Venecia III told reporters he didn’t doubt Delos Santos’s information as he is a friend of his father’s lawyer, Raul Lambino, and that he had put himself at risk by going against his “mistah” Berroya and PMA roommate for three years, Mendoza.
He said Delos Santos told him and his father about the plot when they met at the Speaker’s residence in Dasmarinas Village last October 19.
"General De los Santos told us (my father and I) that I am a target for elimination. The elimination plot was supposed to include my father Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., but the generals plotting this elimination felt that it is very difficult to eliminate the Speaker as he is too high of a target and is the fourth most powerful man in the land," the younger de Venecia said.
Recounting Delos Santos’s accounts, de Venecia III said the former Army general had heard the plan right from Mendoza’s mouth during a recent meeting. Berroya and Dapat were also present.
“I’m worried. This time, real names have been mentioned,” he said in asking police to investigate the threat.
De Venecia III pointed out that it was the first time he had personally known and met Delos Santos as he expressed his gratitude to the retired general for his concern.
“I don’t know if General Delos Santos has a grudge with General Mendoza but as far as I know, he felt it was his moral obligation to warn me and my father,” he stressed. “I believe General Delos Santos. He is an honest general.”
He added: "The bribery, the kickbacks and this deal that takes advantage of the good relations of China and the Philippines cannot be ignored. Those involved must pay the price of their crimes to the Filipino people."
Despite the supposed assassination plot, de Venecia III said he is still going around with a lone bodyguard, confident that it would be too easy to identify the culprits if something bad happened to him.
He said those who wanted him dead had even managed to get his pre-paid cellular phone numbers.
De Venecia III said he will bring this matter up to the Senate on Thursday, when the investigation on the ZTE-NBN deal resumes.
He also said he might ask the Senate to provide him with additional security considering the numerous threats against him.
He said the threats contained in text messages and phone calls started when he disclosed the alleged irregularities in the NBN deal and when he mentioned the name of First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo who told him to “back-off” from the deal.
During earlier Senate hearings, he accused resigned elections chair Benjamin Abalos Sr. of offering a $10-million bribe in exchange for dropping a bid for the national broadband network (NBN) project.
First Gentleman Arroyo allegedly served as a backer for Abalos. The younger de Venecia has claimed that the First Gentleman warned him to "back off" from pursuing a contract to develop the NBN.
De Venecia III is a stockholder in Amsterdam Holdings Inc. (AHI), a losing project proponent.
The NBN project was awarded to China's ZTE Corp. but was eventually canceled amid allegations that the deal was marred with anomalies.
Mendoza signed the deal in behalf of the Philippines on April 21 in Baoa, China. (AH/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pangasinan. (October 24, 2007 issue)
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